El Paso Chihuahuas vs Albuquerque Isotopes 9-5-16

Ron and I both missed the company outing to see the Chihuahuas on Friday.  My backup wasn’t available to sit in for me that night at work, and I had some interpersonal reasons for not really wanting to go.  Ron’s wife also didn’t want him to go out that night.  When I mentioned to him last week that the dogs would be playing on Labor Day Monday afternoon, I asked what his plans were.  By happy coincidence, Ron was already planning a trip to El Paso.  His wife had no problem with going then, so off we went. 

The highlight of our short trip between Las Cruces and El Paso was seeing a Ferrari just as we pulled out of my parking lot.  It was quite glamorous in person and sported a license plate that read, “Top Gun.”  Otherwise, traffic was light on what is usually a very heavily travelled corridor.  Ron’s errand in El Paso involved visiting DXL for some shirts.  I was happy to be along, because the store is at the Shoppes at Farrah complex, which I’d wanted to go to since seeing them during Christmas last year.  The good news is that I got to see the Barnes and Noble there, my main target, and it was very nice.  The bad news is that that was the only place I got to see.  I wasn’t able to see any of the restaurants (one of which I could smell their hamburger product and it must have been delicious) or the other stores.

Outside the B&N, I ran into a guy with an Albuquerque Dukes hat.  That was previous franchise in town, before they became the Isotopes, the Chihuahuas’ opponent today.  I wonder if he was at the game today.  I’d think that he likely feels the same way about the name-change that I do.  I’d rather have the Diablos name back too.  Given that I was wearing my team’s hat and shirt, I probably could have struck up a conversation, but I needed to rendezvous with Ron, and this guy had his family with him.  

 

We arrived at the ballpark without any trouble and an hour and half before game time.  There were a few fans milling around.  At the ticket window, my first choice of seats was unavailable.  I was confident they hadn’t sold out a day game, but that didn’t mean that good seats were still available.  The closest seats to the field were in the Fiesta Patio section.  This didn’t sound like a regular section, but I went with it.  Ron and I spent about a half-hour underneath an incinerating cosmic death ray, also called the Sun, waiting to enter the ballpark.  Some shade out there wouldn’t hurt.  Lines formed up behind us.  There were two guys at the front of the line wearing jerseys and carrying a bag of souvenirs with them, probably looking for signatures.  At Coors Field, everybody at the front of the line (including myself) looked like that.        

Inside, we were immediately greeted with a succulent savor from the barbeque stand.  Food would wait for a minute, as we went to the teamshop.  Santa Claus was in the house nearby, receiving visitors.  I didn’t know he was a fan.  After two trips to the stadium, Ron wanted some team gear and bought the brand new Chihuahuas division winners t-shirt.  I found a 2016 Chihuahuas team set of baseball cards.  I still couldn’t decide about PCL All Star cards.  I really want a Trevor Story card.  There was a very cool San Diego (being the Chihuahuas’ parent club) hat in blue and gold there, but I don’t need another hat.  There were some cool Chihuahuas’ souvenir baseballs in various colors, but I couldn’t find a price on them.  Outside the shop, I saw a woman with a big, pretty service dog.  One of the ladies at work mentioned a friend who went to games all the time with such a dog.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t remember which co-worker, so I could introduce myself (and pet the dog). 

For food, we went to Monchi’s.  Their service was polite and quick.  For $9 each, we got a burger and fries.  I also got a large drink in souvenir cup.  (I learned my lesson from last time: order a large drink because it’s warm there.)  Once again, I didn’t get the souvenir dog bowl with chili cheese fries.  Maybe next year.    

The Fiesta Patio is a picnic-like area along the first base line.  The seats are swivel chairs around tables.  I’d suggest buying seats for this section if you have four people, otherwise you may end up sharing the table with strangers, like we did.  We were in line for foul balls to that side.  Unfortunately, there’s no shade here during the day.  I was starving, since I’d skipped breakfast, so we quickly unpacked our meals.  I would have even eaten McDonalds gratefully.  This was much better than that.  It was a good, thick burger with natural cut fries, all very tasty.  Right after, I got a cherry Slushie, though it quickly started melting in the hot sun. 

It was a good crowd, but there were plenty of empty seats, good ones.  Somebody paid for them, but they weren’t there.  Tellingly, those seats were in the sun.  The ones in the shade were full.  The Pavilions, where the company outing was, were empty.  Next door to them, the three levels of Big Dog House bar and grill were full.  That’s another place I need to get into.  I’d also like to see what the game is like from the second deck of the stadium, preferably in the Westar Club.  I could see a couple of fans talking to the Isotopes players by dugout.  I found myself wanting to sit by the dugouts too.  All of this seat-envy may have been brought on by the heat.  Our temperature was in the mid-90’s.    

The new 2016 Division banner was already up on the wall across the stadium, along with last year’s banner.  Players came out on the field to warm up.  I recognized one of the Isotopes players, maybe.  The tall, lanky pitcher with the distinctive grooming, I think I’d seen at the Rockies game earlier this year, Miguel Castro, though he wasn’t listed on the program.  A middle school band played a couple of songs before game.  They were good.  I yelled, “Play Tusk!”  Later in the game, that did get played later during an intermission over the PA.  Ron nudged me, “They heard you.”

There were no planes overhead this time, but several helicopters made passes.  There was a sudden dramatic rumbling and whistling right before the game.  Here’s something I didn’t get sitting on other sides of the stadium.  Freight trains pass by, below field level, along the first base side.  You don’t see them (unless you’re by the entrance gates), but you really feel them.  Trains came by off and on all during the game.  It was cool, but startled everybody at first before we all identified the sound.

There was a great anthem singer today, a young lady.  Everyone was standing and seemed to relish the moment of patriotism here on Military Monday, where soldiers get in with a discount.  In the 7^th, she came back out to do a stirring rendition of God Bless America.  You could just use her everyday she’s available.  This was followed by Take Me Out to the Ballgame and a Mariachi dance.  Unfortunately, it was too hot to dance. 

I learned things as the game started.  Foul balls are frightening without a net in front of you.  But, yes damn it, I still want to catch one!  Later, I did notice one indifferent guy sitting next to the wall by the foul line with his back to the game for a whole inning.  That wasn’t brave, it was dumb.  As the game went on, the heat became more and more a factor.  I reapplied sunblock about halfway through the game.  Clouds occasionally passed overhead, along with a cool breeze.  It was heaven for a few seconds.  It could have been worse.  We could have been out on the mound pitching or wearing a giant mascot suit in the heat.  It happened several times where I took out my earplugs to talk to Ron for a minute.  When I re-inserted them, Yow!  It was hot at the park today.  

I have to be honest, this game recap isn’t going to be much, but I learned something else.  From just listening to the radio call of these games, I was getting something wrong.  It’s Franchy Cordero, not Frenchy.    Something else I got from the bottom of the 1^st after Carlos Asuaje’s double.  The first hit of the game had a sponsor.  At least that was the only one I heard.  Some of the other teams in the PCL are super-obnoxious with sponsored soundbites.  Sitting through that would be teeth-gritting. 

I hate to say it, but the players had terrible walk up music.  It was the same thing at Aggie games.  At least the Rockies at the major league level mostly picked decent tunes.  The music between innings was good.  With pace-of-play rules and between innings entertainment, I’d say things were pretty lively at the ballpark.  Even if you weren’t a big baseball fan, you wouldn’t be bored.  On the radio, Tim Hagerty was mostly talking about the upcoming playoff games.

A 4th inning line drive, two-run homer by the Isotopes’ Dustin Garneau got the scoring started as it just over the line in left field.  A good throw by Nick Torres on a shallow single kept another run from scoring later in the inning.  With the bases loaded, a clutch double play ended the inning without further damage.  2-0 Isotopes. 

It was Fan Appreciation Day at the park.  Andy Imfeld, the field emcee, went around the stadium handing out supermarket gift certificates between innings.  For my money, I more enjoyed the video messages from the players where they were thanking the fans for their support.  I hear these guys’ names called all season, but don’t really get to hear from them.  One of the field promotions involved a kid hitting a ball off a tee from the outfield trying to get it over the upper lawn fence.  He had no trouble doing that three times.  Everyone in that section got free hockey pucks, and he got a team autographed souvenir.  That was nice.   

The Chihuahuas starting pitcher, Carlos Pimentel, got in trouble again in the 6^th with a walk and a couple of hits, giving up two runs.  I wondered why he was being left in, given the heat.  Nobody was even warming up.  It may have been because yesterday was a bullpen day and they needed to save arms.  4-0 Isotopes at this point. 

In the mid-6^th, Rod Barajas got serenaded by the stadium for his birthday and a huge bunch of balloons.  While Ron had had a burger like I did, his appetite was only whetted.  We’d both smelled the barbeque from the stand on our way in.  He’d already decided to try a sandwich, even before the hamburger.  Ron reported it as delicious.  He brought me back a lemonade.  I’d planned on buying one from one of the wandering vendors, but I never saw one in my section.  Maybe they stayed in the shade.  I spilled some on my scorecard and watch out for the seeds, but I otherwise greatly enjoyed it. 

By this time, I noted by the clock that the Rangers’ afternoon game against Seattle had started, so I switched my radio over to it.  Yes, I know I’m cheating on my local broadcaster, but you can’t expect a baseball fan such as myself to just be satisfied with one game.  You knew I was player.  Cole Hamels of the Rangers started off badly, giving up five runs in the 1^st.  Matt Hicks, who rejoined the broadcast after being away for the weekend, said, “I’m going back to Chicago.”  The 2^nd didn’t go any better.  Hamels is chased from the game at 60+ pitches, seven runs, and less than two innings.  I was going to turn it back to the Chihuahuas since it seemed like a blowout was in progress, but Eric Nadel and Matt, thinking the same way, had loosened up and were having fun with it.  During the long inning, Eric started reading the other scores and said, “Oh, you want me to do National League scores too?”  He’s well known as an American League snob.  (Eric’s only fault as a broadcaster.)   

The Kiss-Cam was also something of a fail at first.  Nobody really wanted to kiss and there weren’t any attractive candidates.  I hadn’t mentioned this before, but there really weren’t many pretty girls in the park that I saw.  I feel like I missed out on one of the best parts of the ballpark experience.  But at the end of the Kiss-Cam segment, we cut to Chico.  He’s totally macking on woman, his giant head slobbering all over her.  Afterward, Andy gives her a gift certificate to avoid a lawsuit.  What was Chico thinking?       

I couldn’t believe this in the 8^th.  The crowd had arrived on time and was staying late.  “Are there fireworks after the game?” I asked.  Carlos Asauje, PCL Rookie of the year, rewarded the fans with a two-run homer just over the line to center.  The dogs finally started a rally.  I even actually saw the guy who shouts out, “Let’s go Chihuahuas” and gets the crowd going.  He was big guy in a large cowboy hat by the foul wall in front of us.  Unfortunately, that was it for the frame, as Isoptes’ reliever, Shane Carle, came in to shut the door.   He started by splintering Patrick Kievelhan’s bat on a foul tip, check swing, before striking him out. 

Back in Arlington, Normar Mazara hit a three-run homer as part of a five-run inning off Felix Hernandez.  Suddenly, the Rangers were back in it, 7-5 Mariners.  Back in El Paso, they’re playing the Chicken Dance on the video board, but it’s still too hot to dance.  The 9^th proves to be uneventful, except for a foul ball that comes into our section.  I was head down in my scorecard at the time, so thankfully it didn’t come to me.  A girl recovered it, but dropped and shattered her smart phone.  That wasn’t a good trade.  On the other side of the stadium, another fan with a mitt in the upper deck, dropped a foul ball in to the lower deck to the derision of the crowd.   

I missed a few plays during the game.  This is what I get for listening to another game and screwing with my scorecard.  Ron tried listening to the Internet feed, but it was a full minute behind the action, so that isn’t a good option at the ballpark.  This was the Chihuahuas’ fifth loss in a row going into the playoffs.  That’s not promising.  I blame Ron.  They lost the last time I was here with him and won the two times I wasn’t here with him.  Worse, this was my last live baseball game of the year.  Waaah! 

For my player of the game, I’m not even looking at the scorecards.  It’s Chihuahuas’ pitcher, Carlos Pimentel.  In that heat, with no run support, he did a pretty good job only giving up four runs in eight innings.  This is why they don’t play day games here.  We went back to the teamshop so Ron could look at the floppy hats there ($30).  I saw women’s shirt that read, “Only in your fantasy league.”  I went to the bathroom afterward and this is amazing news.  I used the urinals three times today, without whacking my head on the low shelf over the bowl.  That’s a first. 

If driving into the stadium was easy, getting out was terrible.  We entered the maze of garbage that is downtown El Paso.  I’m not seeing the ballpark revitalization.  This is a 100% worse than downtown Denver at likely half the size.    The only good news was how light the traffic was on I-10 at 4:30 when we finally made it on to the freeway.  We were listening to the Rangers’ game on the way back and I finished it at home.  It was 8-6 in 6^th after Roughned Odor hit a home run.  He’s been hitting the ball like its Jose Bautista.  Unfortunately, the M’s answered with six runs in the bottom of the frame.  14-6 Mariners was the final.  And for irony, after grilling for a couple of hours, Ron and I got smoothies back in Las Cruces, we both ended up freezing.  Never a bad day at the ballpark.  Even with the losses, it was still a great day.